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Lion's Pride	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 10067 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. I make no money writing this. I do it for my own pleasure. Any lyrics are my own or I received permission from the artist.

Chapter List
- 27
- 28
- 29
"There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart." - Mahatma Gandhi

Chapter 28

When the Last Sakura Falls

Days drifted by. Lucy tried to live them normally, but she felt like she was dangling from a cliff, holding onto a root, and slowly slipping. Her son was growing up too fast, and Loke's judgment day approached too swiftly. She wished Time would stop!
Spring inevitably came. Lucy, Loke, and Luke went to the Hanami Party with the rest of Fairy Tail, played bingo, participated in competitions, and laughed when Luke began crawl-chasing after Asuka with her squealing about "baby cooties." When night came, they all watched in wonder as the rainbow sakura shone in variegated brilliance.
"Do you remember the first day I kissed you?" Loke asked as they enjoyed the peaceful evening and shifting colors. "A few days before, while on a mission, I had confessed my feelings, but you had too much to drink that night. You woke up regretting it and hardly speaking to me."
"I regretted getting drunk and flashing my boobs at you," Lucy muttered, not liking to recall that particular day. "At least you were a gentleman and put me to bed."
"After that, I thought you'd want nothing to do with me. Then you called me out, right here in this grove, and had a picnic set up under the cherry trees. You shocked me by saying that maybe we could try dating. I figured it was the perfect moment to kiss you. That was one year ago today." He sighed and looked up at the trees. "Time passes too quickly sometimes."
She heard the grief in his voice. Each petal that fell ticked down the moments. Instead of being able to simply enjoy the beauty like everyone around them, Lucy felt an ice shiver through her arms. "How long will you be gone?"
"Hard to say," he admitted, unable to look at her. "How long do trials last in the Human World?"
"I don't know. Days, weeks, sometimes they can last months and drag out until..." She realized something, and it stung her heart. "Even if the trial lasts only a day..."
"It'll be three months to you," Loke finished, dropping an anvil on that painful truth. "And if it lasts a month, thirty days for Spirits equals ninety months for Humans."
"Seven and a half years!" she whispered. Lucy looked down at Luke. At his rate of growth, in six years her son would be an adult. So if Loke's trial lasted one month in Spirit World time...she wanted to cry just thinking about it. "So, when you were locked up for a week, it was only two hours for you. Yet it felt like so long for me. That's not really fair." Her head dropped over onto his shoulder. "I wish I could go with you," she pouted. "I could wear the Celestial clothes, and Virgo can dress Luke up in them. Or maybe, since he's half Spirit, he doesn't even need the special clothes. At least then we could be with you. Even if it takes a few days or weeks..."
"Lucy, if that was the case, you'd miss out on months or even years of life here. You'd come back and all your friends would be older."
"But I'd be with you!" she shouted. "I wouldn't be left alone. Luke would grow up slower."
"We don't know that. For all we know, the Spirit World might cause him to grow even faster."
"Dammit, I don't want you to miss out on seeing him grow up!" she shouted, and the other guild members looked over to her. Lucy shut her eyes as tears came unwanted. "I'd rather be with you, even if I miss out on a few years here."
He sighed heavily. "I'll ask the Spirit King if that's possible," Loke whispered, although he already knew it would not be allowed. Even if it was, Lucy would only be able to last a day or two in the Spirit World. She would have to go back and recover. And Luke...Loke and no clue how being in the Spirit World might affect his son, but he had a bad feeling.

Each day of the sakura season, they went out to watch, although it felt like they were only tormenting themselves. The fluttering sakura taunted them. Soon the trees were almost bare. Loke knew, when the last petal dropped, his time would be up. He almost felt like doing something silly like gluing the cherry blossoms onto the branches, just to give himself more time. That was something Natsu would do. He realized Fairy Tail was having quite an influence on him if he even bothered to think of something as childish as that.

Finally, most of the trees were naked. The rain of petals stopped, and now they only fluttered down like occasional teardrops. On that day, Loke found himself glaring at the cherry trees and hating the sakura. He wished he could flee from this damning fate. Even if he tried, the Spirit King himself would come to arrest Loke. Attempting to evade justice would only make his judgment harsher.
He saw there were only a handful of petals left on the trees, each trembling as if scared to fall and fade from their ephemeral existence. Time ticked steadily onward like a ponderous march, plodding ever closer toward doom. With each passing moment of this transient freedom, Loke felt the icy fingers of encroaching captivity slowly tightening around his throat. He glanced over to Lucy and saw she had grown thin lately. She slept poorly and barely ate. Sakura season was torturous to them both.
How much worse would it be for her once he was gone? How could he possibly protect her? Wasn't there something he could do? Anything?
Loke's fingers trembled with hesitation as he reached to his hand and slowly pulled off his ring. He held it between his fingers, rubbed his thumb over the blue stone, and seemed to siphon a little confidence from it.
"Lucy," he said softly, his voice quavering. "I want you to have this." He placed his ring in her hands and smiled sadly, trying to be strong for her sake. "This is my Heart, or what's left of it."
She looked down in shock. "Your Regulus ring?" A vision flashed through her mind, Gray delivering the ring to her, telling her that the ring was the only thing they could find after they searched the rubble of the fort where she and Loke had been held prisoner. For him to removed it again... "No," she gasped.
He spoke over her in a rush, needing desperately to tell her this before it was too late. "I don't want the Spirit King or anyone else to get their hands on it. If I have to give up my magic, the Spirit King might want to destroy my ring as well. I can't allow that!" he insisted vehemently. "Even if I can't use it, I can't let it be destroyed. Please, Lucy. I trust you with it. Protect it. Never lose it." He stroked her face and smiled at her sad eyes. "Treat it as preciously as you would treat our love."
Tears gathered on the rim of her eyelids, and her throat tightened as she strained not to cry. Suddenly, she sensed a magical presence. She blinked her eyes fast to clear them and tucked the ring away into a pocket. In two golden flashes, Capricorn appeared with Taurus by his side, both looking reluctant but determined to carry out their grim duty.
"You two don't have to worry," Loke assured them in resignation. "I'll leave willingly."
"We're really sorry, Leo-sama," Capricorn said quietly.
"Lucy! I'll protect your nice body," swore Taurus.
"As shall I," Capricorn solemnly promised. "My oath to your mother Layla-sama shall apply to both you and Luke-sama."
"I know you will," she smiled gratefully. "You guys are more than just my Spirits. You're my friends!"
Taurus got hearts in his eyes that she actually called him her friend. "Moooooving statement!" he bellowed.
Capricorn merely gave a nod, still stunned by how similar this girl was to her mother.
Loke gave a long sigh and rose to his feet. "Whelp, guess it's time to go."
"Loke!" Lucy scrambled to get up. She reached out for him, yet withdrew her hand fast and covered her mouth with it. She wanted to scream protests, but she knew this must be just as hard on him. She had to be strong for him. She could not protest, not this time.
He looked back at her. For a moment, his mouth opened as if to say something. The words choked, his teeth gritted to hold back what he dearly wanted to say, yet he realized it was futile. Instead, he grabbed the back of her head, yanked her forward, and kissed her hard. Lucy grabbed him back, clutching onto his suit coat as if she could keep him with her by the sheer power of her fingers. Their kiss was rough, fiery, unrestrained, yet bittersweet, a wild burst of passion and emotions.
Taurus whimpered and the hearts in his eyes crumbled. Capricorn looked even more distasteful that he had to be the one to separate them. He politely looked away to give the two star-crossed lovers a little privacy. At least for now, he would wait and let the two have a proper goodbye.
Breathlessly, Loke rested his forehead against hers and pawed at her face as if hoping to remember every soft contour. Lucy felt the icy shivering in his touches. This was tearing him apart, and it pained her to see him being crushed.
"Try to make it quick, okay?" she said lightly, forcing a small smile.
"I'll try." He swallowed hard to clear his tensed throat. "I love you, Lucy. Wait for me." Then Loke turned sharply and began to march toward the two waiting Spirits like a doomed man heading to the guillotine.
Lucy wiped her tears fast as she watched his back. She bit her bottom lip hard to hold back from sobbing or screaming for him. Come on, Lucy. Be strong. You can't make this any worse for him. You can't cry, not yet. You can cry all you want later. Be strong!
"Dada!"
Loke suddenly froze. Lucy gasped and looked down to Luke. The baby began to crawl across the petal-strewn ground toward the three Celestial Spirits. He stumbled on some slippery sakura, fell face down, pushed himself up into a sitting position, looked up to Loke, and stretched his arms forward.
"Dada," he said again. In his face, he seemed to be asking why his father was leaving him, and his out-stretched arms beckoned him to come back.
Loke slowly turned around. His lips twitched, wanting to smile and cry at the same time. Suddenly, his resolve cracked. He hurried back and grabbed Luke up into his arms, hugging him tightly. "My son!" He looked to Lucy with excitement shining in his eyes. "This counts, right? This counts as a first word?"
She sniffed happily. "He was looking at you when he said it, no prompting."
"His first word," Loke said in amazement. "Say it again. Say dada."
"Dada," Luke smiled, and smacked Loke's nose with a laugh. "Dada, dada!"
Lucy came up beside Loke and leaned into his shoulder, smiling proudly. "He knows who you are. He knows you're his daddy."
Tears streamed down from behind his glasses until Loke had to remove his shades. For a while, he was speechless, in awe with this milestone. Then he slowly realized he had almost missed it. A minute later and he would have been spirited away without having heard his baby's first word. How many more firsts would he miss? How much of his son's life would pass by before he could return to them?
"I don't want to go," Loke whispered in anguish, squeezing Luke and Lucy close to him, as if he could hold them for eternity. "I really, really don't want to go. Dammit, how can I miss even a single day of his childhood?"
Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist. She knew his emotions must be at their very limit for him to admit that bit of weakness.
"Dada," Luke said again, as if to tell him it would be all right.
Loke looked to Lucy, and his emerald eyes pierced into her. "I'll come back, one way or another. I might be leaving without a struggle, but it doesn't mean I won't fight to get back to you!" He looked at Luke next. "And I swear to you, my son: I will not abandon you. I will teach you all you need to know so you can grow up to be a proud, noble mage. Everyone who sees you will know you are the son of the Lion. I will be there for you, Luke. I'll be the father you deserve." He hugged the baby close to him again. "I swear!"
Suddenly, Virgo appeared in a poof of smoke. "He says to hurry," she told them, then vanished again.
Capricorn sighed in regret. "I'm sorry, Leo-sama."
"No, it's...I understand," he choked out.
Reluctantly, Loke handed the baby back to Lucy. Luke tried to reach back to him, calling out "Dada" again. This time, Loke sadly brushed the tiny fingers aside, then leaned over to kiss them as if he could apologize for such painful negligence. He then looked up into Lucy's teary eyes and kissed her on the lips.
"I love you. I'll try to hurry back. But...there's one more thing to tell you." He looked down and spent almost half a minute debating if he could say what he wanted to tell her. She saw a glimmer of desperation growing in his eyes. "I'm not sure how long this will take, or what might happen once I'm not here to shield you. If you ever fall into dark times and need me desperately..." He paused again, but his mind seemed to be made up. The next words were spoken with a slight sneer of bitter defiance. "There is a way to free me."
"Leo-sama!" Capricorn warned, striding forward fast.
"Don't send her after that," Taurus yelled angrily.
"The Heart of the Lion!" Loke shouted just as Capricorn grabbed his arms and pulled him away from Lucy. Loke suddenly looked desperate and struggled to stay by her side. "With the Key to the Heart of the Lion, you could call upon me no matter where I am," he hurriedly told her, fighting to say just this last thing while the Goat and massive Bull pulled him back by force. "Of all Humans, you're the only one who could find it. If you obtain that key, you'd have utter control over me, control beyond what even the Spirit King..."
Suddenly, all three disappeared in a flash of gold light. Lucy was left staring at where Loke vanished, the image of his anguished face remaining like a ghostly shadow. Little Luke began to cry loudly, tears streaming down his chubby face as he reached out to where his daddy had been.
"Dadaaaaaa!" he wailed.
The last sakura petal suddenly trembled, disconnected, and fluttered to the ground.
"Key? Heart of the Lion?" she whispered. She remembered hearing that term before. Queen Kefira had been searching for the Key to the Heart of the Lion and thought Lucy might have it. "Regulus." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring, then looked over to the crying baby. "What exactly is Regulus?"
End of Chapter 28

Rhov's Corner:

Loke's recollection of their first kiss is straight from the prequel, "Ephemeral Sakura, Eternal Love." It's short, and the kiss scene is in the last chapter. Yes, she drunkenly flashed her boobs at Loke in that story.
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- 29
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Lion's Pride